On June 5, 1967, Israeli air force raided on Egyptian, Jordanian, and
Syrian airbases, destroying the few airplanes, so-called air forces, of
the three Arab states, in just few hours. The War, though, became known as
the six-day war because this was the time Israeli tanks took to occupy the
territories Israeli planners targeted for occupation. Zionists and their
supporters rejoiced in Israel and all over the world. From that moment on,
Israel has received more financial and military assistance from the US
than ever before, apparently to be able to control the newly acquired
lands and the conquered Palestinian population.

The Israeli achievement has been admired by many American military
leaders, politicians, journalists, and even academicians, who recorded
that in their writings. They gave their audiences the impression that
Israelis achieved a miracle in that war. Actually, many of them used the
term "six-day war," which was first used by Yitzhak Rabin, in
reference to God's creation of the the universe in six days.(1)
However, it was not a miracle because miracles are good things that happen
to people, by the will of God. Rather, it was an evil act that was made
possible by the sophisticated air force that France provided Israel with
and by equipment financed by West Germany, part of the compensation for
the holocaust. Instead of using the money for construction, rehabilitation
and compensation of Palestinian refugees, or cooperation with neighboring
Arab states, Israel used it for the purchase of weapons. Actually, the
Zionist influence in the West made sure that Israel would be stronger than all
Arab states combined, which made Israeli expansionist policies possible.

For thirty-five years, since the Israeli occupation of the Arab
territories, the Middle East has not known peace. In particular, the
Palestinian people have been subjected to a brutal and continuous
occupation that targeted their existence. Israel neither extended
citizenship to Palestinians nor allowed them to have their independent
state, where they can be citizens in a country. The objective has been to
make their life so unbearable that they leave their homeland. Even though
most of them have not left, Israeli governments kept building settlements
for Israelis in the occupied territories, with full financial support from
the United States. This has meant more suffering and deprivation, as more and
more Palestinian lands are confiscated.

For
Palestinians, in particular, and Arabs in general, Israel has meant one
thing: terror. Thirty-five years of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian
territories have meant mistreatment, persecution, and oppression. For
what? What did Palestinians do to these Zionists to receive all this
aggression? What did Arabs and Muslims do to be mistreated, invaded, and
attacked? What should it take to end this disgrace in the human history?

Hassan El-Najjar

6/5/02

(1) See Chapter 9 of El-Najjar. 2001.
"The Gulf War: Overreaction & Excessiveness." Genrals
Schwarzkopf and Powell, and Scowcroft, all expressed their admiration.
Schwarzkopf even extended the ground war arbitrarily to 100 hours, so that
historian would mention it as the five-day war, that is one day less than
the Israeli "miracle." This led to the unnecessary killing of
thousands of retreating Iraqi soldiers.